On 7/18/99 4:10 AM, jason and jill <[log in to unmask]> wrote...

>I have an unusual problem.  I just deleted from two of my lists a
>long-time troll.  The troll is arguing that by asking people to join the
>list I have contractually obligated myself to carry all his messages,
>bring him milk and cookies, the usual subscriber from hell crap.
>
>Anyway, the troll is a published writer and I don't want the troll
>arguing that retaining his posts constitutes copyright violation, etc.
>The troll hasn't thought of that, of coure, but I have and he may think
>of it in the future.
>
>The lists are on a university listserv twelve states away that I have no
>access to except through listserv.  However, my home system is a unix
>variant, so through get and send I have access to all the normal unix
>tools.  What I would like to know is if there is a way I could have a
>script automatically process a getted archive and delete the troll's
>posts.

I don't think that's very wise. First of all, you have nothing to worry
about as far as copyright goes. They joined a public list knowing full
well it's archived (it helps if you mention this in your welcome
message). While the troll's rights may go so far as preventing you from
re-publishing them elsewhere (and even that is questionable), there's no
reason to remove them from your archive.

But the big reason this isn't a good idea: people probably replied to the
troll. You remove the troll's postings, now anyone reading the archives
are going to be confused seeing replied to this person (where this
person's words are quoted), yet not their original posts. You'd have to
remove all the replies, which is just going to be a huge mess.

Best to just let it go, IMO.


--
Adam Bailey    | Chicago, Illinois
[log in to unmask] | Finger/Web for PGP
[log in to unmask] | http://www.lull.org/adam/